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** Spinning Jenny
TO SERVE AND PROTECT
(Prophet)
Boston's own Spinning
Jenny have released a disc that shows technical prowess but little in the art
of songwriting. Some tunes, like "Tide," have good hooks, but they're not
supported by solid verses or choruses, and nonsensical guitar solos murder
them. The guitars sound straight out of the '70s and early '80s, when dinosaurs
like Foreigner, Joan Jett, and Pat Benatar walked the earth, crooning ballads
that built to crunching guitar drama, subsided back to ballad, and then ended
with an obligatory guitar solo with wah-wah outro.Cherie Felos's vocals are grating, unemotive; her style ranges from whine to choirgirl. "Who Will Find You" is the most haunting song, and seemingly the most comfortable for the band. The vocals and the tune's melody line mesh, and Felos's signature drone is replaced with a believable, pleading statement: "Who will find you now?" This song proves that Spinning Jenny do have potential. Unfortunately, it ends with a guitar solo.
-- Dana Barnes
Copyright © 1996 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group. All rights reserved.